Searching for Swedish Fish in Sweden

Malmo, Sweden was one of the few destinations during our trip that I didn’t research extensively beforehand. I knew how to get there, and I knew they had a castle, and that was about it. Mainly I just wanted to set foot in yet another country, and I also wanted to see if they really did have Swedish Fish in Sweden!

Getting there involves taking the Metro to Copenhagen Airport (CPH) and then taking another train over the Oresund Bridge. The bridge is nearly five miles long, and is a pretty incredible architectural achievement, with pylons that go up almost 700 feet and can be seen for miles. The train costs about $14 each way, and takes about 40 minutes. It was a relatively pleasant journey – you’re in a tunnel for about half of it, but the other half over the actual bridge is very scenic (so much so that I forgot to film it!).

The Turning Torso in Malmo, Sweden. (Leonard Kinsey)

Malmo’s Central Station is clean and impressive, and even has an upscale food hall with a bunch of interesting vendors. But I skipped past those and made a beeline for the station’s grocery store, in search of my holy grail: Swedish Fish in Sweden. And after a quick perusal of the bulk candy aisle (man, the Swedes really love their candy!), we found them: Pastellfisk!!! Apparently in Sweden they come in a bunch of different colors and flavors, but the red ones we’re familiar with in the US are actually lingonberry flavored. Who knew?

At this point I was kind of at a loss, since I hadn’t really planned on doing anything other than finding Swedish Fish. So we exited the station and aimlessly walked around for an hour, enjoying the waterfront and marveling at the Turning Torso, a unique twisting white skyscraper that also happens to be the tallest building in Scandinavia. Eventually we happened upon Lilla torg, which is Malmo’s smaller, more historic square, and had a nice lunch at one of the many restaurants lining the square. A few blocks down was the Gustav Adolf’s torg, which is a much larger historic square that is home to a weird fountain and an excellent public restroom that cost about $1 to use (you can also shower for $2).

At that point I remembered that there was a castle in town, so I broke out the phone and navigated us through a crumbling cemetery and into Kungsparken, Malmo’s oldest park, which is known for its winding canals, exotic trees, and… a casino.

Finally, we crossed a bridge and were met with the sight of Malmohus Slott, the oldest surviving Renaissance castle in the Nordic region. While the castle itself isn’t particularly impressive, the grassy moat surrounding it is quite scenic. Inside is an art museum, a history museum, and randomly, an aquarium, all of which we bypassed in favor of the castle’s quaint café, which served multiple types of beer, sandwiches, cakes, and a custardy soft-serve ice cream.

If you’re going to be staying in Copenhagen for any length of time, I’d say Malmo is definitely worth a day trip. It’s not a must-do, but it’s a lovely city, and is just a short, inexpensive train ride away.

About the author

Leonard Kinsey is the owner of Bamboo Forest Publishing, and the bestselling author of "The Dark Side of Disney", the Anarchist Cookbook of Disney travel guides. He has lived in Baltimore for over 15 years, and enjoys drinking craft beer in unique places, eating nachos and pizza, listening to 80s hair metal, and arguing about Star Trek minutia, often all at the same time. Watch out ladies! Contact the author.